THREE more cases of foot-and-mouth disease were confirmed on farms in the Thirsk area this week.

The Shades at Sutton under Whitestonecliffe went down with the virus on Wednesday and 40 sheep were culled. No dangerous contacts or contiguous sites were identified.

The disease was also found in cattle at Marderby Grange, Felixkirk, last Friday, with 95 cattle culled. On Saturday, The Gables at Kepwick succumbed and 200 cattle were slaughtered. Five dangerous contacts and contiguous sites were identified.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responded this week by sending out a mixed message to farmers. Thirsk was placed at the heart of a disinfection area to prevent the disease spreading to nearby pig producers.

But the government also called a halt to its programme of cleaning infected farms for a review of the costs involved. The suspension of cleaning teams means farmers whose beasts have been culled will effectively be left in limbo as they cannot re-stock until the farm has passed an inspection by Defra officials.

Farmers reacted angrily to the news. Mr David Palmer, National Farmers' Union representative for the Thirsk area, said: "Losing your livestock is a very traumatic experience. The first step back to normality is to start cleaning up and the psychological impact of not being able to do that is horrendous."

But the food chain minister, Lord Whitty, speaking on a visit to Northallerton on Monday, defended the government's stance. "The costs of the final cleansing and disinfection are only just coming to light," he said. "We made an estimate but the costs coming in are substantially higher and we need to find a reason for that. We need to look at whether we are being overcharged."

He refuted claims that there was any danger of spreading the disease by not cleaning the farms. "This is not the initial disinfecting after a cull but the final cleaning before a farmer can re-stock," he said.

Lord Whitty was in Northallerton to launch the disinfection zone in North Yorkshire.

The new bio-security measures mean all vehicles visiting farms will have to be licensed. Defra officers will accompany all milk tankers and some grain and feed lorries on farm runs to ensure the disinfecting is done properly.

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire sheep farmers worried about the spread of foot-and-mouth have protested to the government about a decision to license grouse shoots from August 12.

The Swaledale sheep breeders' association fears that the move could bring beaters from infected areas on to the moors, which are already classified as being under special control, and that sheep could pick up the disease locally if driven too far out of their home territory ahead of a grouse drive